Stone Circle Every story has its scars

Kove remained silent as she spoke, listening closely and taking into consideration each piece of the story. But the story was not complete, even when she reached the end, being as it was only a single side. The man raised his son on his own, to the best of his abilities, but even he could not always pinpoint a reason behind his actions. There was a time once when they were close, speaking often and exchanging trivial things; he used to teach the boy, going over lessons with him regularly, but then things changed. All of sudden, Xan grew distant, kept to himself and avoided all that he used to regularly be around. To this day, the elder did not know what caused such an extreme change in his son.

“I do not know what happened to cause discord between them, and I will not excuse his actions,” he began. “But I will recommend that you go easy on him.” There was something off with the eldest child, there had been for a long time now. “Alexander today is not the same kid he was when you two were younger. I was able to see him grow after he left with me but something happened. Something… stunted that growth, I suppose you could say.” Preoccupied with his own position in the pack at the time, and by his own eagerness to move forward and keep the pain from fully hitting him, he never took the boy aside and spoke with him. That which bothered him, what altered him so drastically, was never brought up. Kove assumed that he would eventually speak-up once he felt comfortable doing so but the days kept passing, and then Xan was gone, the woods left behind so he could live his own life.

Now, he regretted not beginning the conversation.

“I don’t know what changed him and I don’t know how he deals with others anymore,” he continued. “We never spoke about it. But he’s still a good kid, despite everything. He just didn’t get to grow up the same way you did.” Maybe he would have been better off, had he not followed Kove. Or, at the very least, maybe Desna would understand him better and be able to help him, seeing as his father never could.